NCCM cautiously welcomes redress system for Canadian travelers

(Ottawa– November 22, 2016) The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), a prominent civil liberties & advocacy organization, is cautiously welcoming news that the federal government has approved a redress system to protect Canadian travellers.

According to the Globe and Mail, the redress system will allow Canadians to apply for a unique identification number if their name matches the name of someone on a no-fly list. This number will allow travellers to avoid unnecessary travel delays and help free up resources which would otherwise be tied up in resolving issues.

“This is a positive step in the right direction for the over fifty families who have young children and infants on no-fly lists, as well as for adults who face false positives,” says NCCM Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee. “However, there is still a ways to go and much remains unknown. We still don’t know, for example, how one gets removed from the list and while this assumes an end to the process, the law itself and the secrecy surrounding the review process remain.

“Canadians of all faiths and backgrounds who have been impacted by no-fly lists look forward to the actual implementation of this new redress policy and its outcomes.”

Khadija Cajee, mother of Syed Adam Ahmed, the six-year-old whose experience flying to Boston garnered international headlines when his father tweeted an Air Canada message showing his son was “Deemed High Profile”, says this news signifies progress.

“We welcome the official announcement from Ottawa yesterday regarding the approval of a no-fly redress system and are glad that the government is sincerely working toward fulfilling its commitment to fixing the system,” said Cajee in a statement. “We have advocated on behalf of children who found themselves inadvertently caught up in this system. This is positive news for all innocent people who may have found themselves affected. This is a step toward the finish line and we look forward to crossing that line soon.”

Last June, the federal government also established a Passenger Protect Inquiries Office which it said would provide passengers an avenue to appeal a discovery that their name is on a Canadian no-fly list.